Ace of Scrolls: Backstory

A new beginning
Sweet flowers start opening
doors of the past close

Kat sat in her favourite restaurant: her friends were sat around her laughing and joking. It was her birthday and she was grateful to everyone who had made the effort to celebrate with her. However, there was one person missing and it made her uneasy. Luke was her best friend and had been for a long as she could remember: there was no way he would miss her birthday. So, where the hell was he? Something was wrong; she could feel it. More to the point, her pendant, that she wore all the time, was getting warmer by the minute. This, she had come to realise, meant danger. Nevertheless, she decided to carry on their meal until she felt the danger was imminent. Luke really had to start looking after himself, she thought, trying to forget the fact that he had zero common sense!

After catching herself giggling at Luke's nonsensical actions and reactions, she tried hard to get involved in the dinner conversations. He was enjoying spending time with friends she rarely saw these days and they had a great time catching up on each other's news. Kat did find herself glazing over when the topic of relationships was brought up - she really was not one to indulge in discussions of love life. Perhaps it was because she didn't have one. Although, she was quite happy being single since she had a lot to occupy her time as it was.
Halfway through the meal, Luke walked into the restaurant. Walking towards them, Kat readied herself with a mock telling off - where had he been? How dare he be late for her birthday! Outrageous! But, as he got closer she was able to see his eyes: eyes that gave away everything.

"Kat, you need to come with me. Somebody wants to see you," Luke demanded, without registering anyone else on the table.
She was slightly taken aback by this announcement, but not as much as everyone else who looked rather shocked. "No, I don't think I do. Everyone that would need to see me is here - other than my parents, who I saw about one hour ago," Kat said, nonplused.
At this, Luke started to look scared and pleaded with Kat that she had to come with him otherwise they were in grave danger.
"No, not really Luke. The way I see it is that someone who wants to hurt you, or me, or both of us has placed you under a spell. It's a pretty obvious spell I have to say. They could have tried harder! Sheeesh," laughed Kat. Even though she was laughing, she knew she had to sort Luke out as soon as possible otherwise he could be hurt. She had to get him back to her flat straight away.

Luke tried to force Kat to get on his motorbike, promising he would take them to her place and nowhere else. Did he think she was stupid? Not a chance! Some how she managed to get him into her Mini. She might be small, but she wasn’t afraid to use force when needed. Luke would appreciate her efforts when he was back in his right mind - providing she managed to do what needed to be done!

Back at home, Kat took out her journal and hunted out some purple candles. Lighting the candles she attempted to find out more about the situation from Luke. He clearly wasn’t in the mood for sharing. Either that or he actually didn’t know what was going on anymore than she did.
“How on earth do you get yourself in these situations,” Kat said, rolling her eyes,
“Don’t be so judgmental, Katrina,” Luke was almost shouting now, “maybe I’m just being myself for once!”

Sighing, Kat kept looking through her journal for the spell she needed. She had never broken a controlling spell before. But she collected all kinds of spells, just in case. You never knew what was around the corner. As it was, however, she only had a spell that did half of what she needed; she would need to write a new one. Luckily spell writing was her forte. It would only take a few minutes.

Making sure Luke was sat opposite her, Kat started the ritual. Holding one of the candles up high, she spoke the spell.

Qui moderatur hoc esse
Tolle quod tuum est , alibi desunt
Hic tua magicae est non receperint
Ligans recesserimus

As soon as she finished the spell, Luke turned very white and started shaking uncontrollably. This really didn’t surprise Kat, so she sat back and let him do his thing. While she waited, she updated her journal with the new spell. The way Luke was going, she didn’t doubt that she may well need to use it again; he seemed to find trouble very easily. Luckily, Kat rarely got so worried that she was unable to work out a way round problems. She was often commended for her level headedness. Luke was always grateful too.

The candle flame flickered and he started to come back to normal: the spell had worked. Slurring slightly, he said, “umm I’m not sure who it was but someone wanted your head on a plate”.
“Yep, I kind of gathered that,” Kat replied, “next time please work out who it is before you let someone put a spell on you - it might make my job slightly easier!”

Kat and Luke both laughed with relief that they had narrowly avoided yet another disaster. Yet, neither of them could shake the feeling that, this time, it wasn’t the end of the story.

- Kat - Kat's journal - Kat's pendant